Scott Rittenhouse, presente! 1959-2012

Last week [September 2012] one of our own, Scott
Rittenhouse, passed away in his sleep. As news began to travel among
revolutionaries of all stripes, many of us began to see social media
light up around us with memories of him. Scott was an interesting soul,
pugnacious at times, always reliable, and always willing to talk things
through and express his opinions. He was a one-man pamphlet-making,
sticker-designing, distribution point and anarchists all over the world –
particularly those with a penchant for reading pamphlets – encountered
his work in a variety of forms. His stickers adorn the walls of schools,
businesses, and cop shops all over the country.

Like lots of older American anarchists, his early
political experiences were with anti-racist action, organizing against
fascists, disrupting their events, and sometimes streetfighting with
organized bigots. In Los Angeles, he worked with ARA and area anarchist
and anti-authoritarian groups as a militant class struggle anarchist.
Wherever he moved (when he died he was living in Virginia), he took
those experiences with him and shared them with comrades.

As Tom Wetzel pointed out, “Scott was a former
army sergeant who became a revolutionary, a former city planner &
white collar union rep in Los Angeles, a former activist in Anti-Racist
Action. (…) He was a working class guy who read on his own, was
thoughtful, anti-racist, anti-capitalist, anti-authoritarian.” Scott
spent his last days in poverty, used as a soldier by the state and left
without much in the end (a pretty common story these days). And he
organized to see that other young people didn’t suffer the same fate at
the hands of the state’s war machinery.

Scott wrote prolifically on his positions on
ecology, urban planning, economics, and much more. Below are a few
quotes from some of his unpublished work that he was drafting at the
time of his death. He intended this work to explain why he opposed
capitalism and put forward a class struggle anarchist perspective:

“The well-being of people is more important than
money. Social problems can be done away with by eliminating poverty and
cruelty and the reasons people hurt each other out of desperation to survive.”

“There can be no political freedom without economic freedom. There can be no freedom without social equality.”

“Capitalism… can only lead to a social class
system with extremes of political power, over-consumption and
concentration of wealth supported by extremes of poverty, war and
environmental destruction.”

“To resist authoritarian institutions we must undermine their legitimacy.”

“The emancipation of the working class must be the
task of the workers themselves (First International Preamble). If I
want change I have to be willing to work for it myself. Politicians,
leaders and bosses only act in their own interest.”

Finally, we’d like to leave readers off with some
memories of Scott, posted by comrades, emailed condolences and the like.
Because Scott was a revolutionary, we leave these quotes without
attributing them to specific people. But we also want to leave a few
words our own:

“Scott fought for a world without borders, bosses,
politicians, war, environmental catastrophe, social inequality,
classes, and so on. We’d like his death to serve as a reminder to us all
to love each other while we’re alive. Let’s take care of each other,
treat one another with dignity and respect in the here and now, so that
we can fight side-by-side together. Scott, rest in power, compa.”

“Scott Rittenhouse almost single-handedly
saturated the Los Angeles basin with anarchist literature throughout the
later half of the ‘90s. As he worked in city planning department of the
City of Los Angeles, he quietly (if you can believe Scott could do
anything quietly) produced thousands of pamphlets with hundreds of
various titles.

If you were an anarchist in the ‘90s, you likely
had numerous pamphlets produce by Scott in your library. He produced his
own newspaper – the Leveler – and was a one man organization
(ICC – Insurgency Counter Collective.) Man of us saw him struggle,
disappear and then reappear with same loud, abrasive personality that we
all learned to love. He was loud, obnoxious, but he was ours. He was
our comrade.

Goodbye, Scott. For you and the revolution.”

“Scott was like a bull in a china closet. His
heart was surely in the right place…but, damn, Scott, you were such a
pain sometimes. But you gave without asking and I always appreciated
your willingness to help WSA with layout, pdf’s and all that sorta
technical stuff. In spite of your hard-headedness, if something was
rationally put before you, you mostly listened……. With sadness, I raise
my fist, and on behalf of all your comrades….. ‘Scott Rittenhouse, Presente!’”

“We have lost one of the best propagandists I’ve ever known of, imho.”

“Scott made my favorite anarchist sticker in the
world. It’s a kung fu woman with a straight sword doing a classical
wushu pose. It has antifa arrows, a circle-a, and a circle-e on it. It’s
on my bedroom mirror here. The background is the black and red flag he
used for all of his stickers. I’m looking at it now.”

“I met Scott Rittenhouse twice, during a speaking
tour in the US in 2008. Both times he was filled with a warm – almost
childish – hope and optimism for humankind, which I was fortunate to
experience. I hope your hope for humankind will be realized Scott, and
I’ll continue to work for that.”

“It was clear that it wasn’t always easy for Scott
to be in the world. I know his difficulties were compounded by money
problems. His commitment to justice and outrage at injustice was a
matter of him being big hearted and broad minded but also of his
experiences, and it infuriates and saddens me that he had to deal with
the bullshit of capitalism in addition to health issues. I’m also sad
that he died so young.”

“Thanks for the words of wisdom in my younger
years. Never had a chance to thank you for that. You were all heart
brother. The arguments over punk rock seem silly now. You had more of an
influence on me than you’ll ever know. I’m sad to see you go Comrade,
but your life was an example of truly living life. Thank you for that.”

“I just learned that the anarchist movement just
lost one of its nicest and warmest hearted propagandists to his sleep
the other night.. he was a great friend of mine a comrade in duty and a
fellow at arms, I will never forget you Scott Rittenhouse for what
you’ve taught me! You will always be with me in spirit.”

“Rest in peace, our friend and comrade Scott Rittenhouse. The movement is worse off without you.”

“We were at a huge march for Mumia and we all got
cornered by the pigs. The pigs started rushing into us, so we all hopped
over a neighbor’s fence and scrambled, and Scott was on the roof of the
house for some reason and all I hear is someone yelling ‘I don’t know,
there’s a huge white guy on the roof’ haha, we were trapped in this back
yard for a few minutes getting balled out by the owner of the house for
destroying his roof, but he let us out without a fight.”

“His open and friendly manner encouraged me to be
the same way with comrades I hadn’t met him in person, he inspired me to
build relationships in as much as I can with our far-flung comrades. My
heart aches knowing that his last years were haunted by material worry
and stress.”

“He was a really great guy who did a tremendous
amount of work for the LA Anarchist and punk scenes (I write Anarchist
with a capital A, as was his habit). He founded the Red and Black book
project, which was the earliest attempt that I am aware if to distribute
classic Anarchist literature in printed and downloadable form for free.
This is a terrible loss and he will be greatly missed by the many who
knew him.”

“The world has lost a good one. Condolences to the Rittenhouse family. You’re gonna be missed Scott.”

“You had a huge heart and you tried your best.
Despite your flaws there are few that can say the same. – from your
comrade in the north pole, I’ll miss you big brother.”

“Gonna be thinking about Scott Rittenhouse
tonight, a solid comrade who passed away. Will never forget Helltown
brother. You will be missed!”

“Scott Rittenhouse has died. I’m shocked and sad. He had a unique personality and my world is less without him.”

“Scott was one of the few comrades who would send
me long, handwritten letters just to say hi, tell me about his life,
his troubles, his loves. He had an enormous heart and I will remember
him always. Love to you, comrade.”